Speaking to letsrecycle.com yesterday, Anna Watson, waste campaigner for Friends of the Earth, said that MBT plants present the best solution for treating residual waste after all materials that can be recycled have been removed.
“Once you have got a really comprehensive recycling system in place, the best thing to do is to use an MBT plant,” she said.
MBT covers a range of treatments that recover metals and other recyclables from residual waste before allowing it to compost. The resulting material, known a refuse derived fuel (RDF), can usually be burnt, to extract further value in the form of energy, or landfilled.
Friends of the Earth, who are strong opponents of incineration, has said that landfill is its preferred option for RDF.
“We do not agree that the RDF should then be burnt in cement kilns or power stations,” Ms Watson clarified. “Because you are putting the burden on communities that surround cement kilns.”
Cement kilns
The pressure group's comments come despite evidence from a 2002 Community Recycling Network report that for RDF, landfill is worse than incineration in cement kilns in terms of human health.
The CRN study also found that using RDF to replace other fuels in cement kilns and power stations may represent a better environmental option in terms of climate change.
But Friends of the Earth claims the study did not take into account the toxicity of bottom ash from the burning, or the full range of chemical emissions.
In a statement the pressure group said: “Friends of the Earth cannot accept that these wastes should go to power stations or cement kilns. These stations are using dirty fuels with poor pollution abatement technology and burning wastes in them goes against the proximity principle that waste should be dealt with as close to its source as possible.”
Friends of the Earth also seem to be advocating landfill for other waste, although Ms Watson admitted that it depended on local circumstances. The group claims that, over a hundred year period, incineration is worse than landfill with methane capture for emitting gases related to climate change.
It is now calling on the government to introduce a tax on incineration similar to landfill tax to “discourage more damaging options” for waste treatment.
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